Apparatus for treating porous blocks.



F.S. HOYT.

`APPARATUS FOR TREAING POROUS BLOCKS. APPLicATloN HLED FEB. 1.1916.

319232,83?, u Patented 0ct.29, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

I c @Hof/vlug F. S. HOYT. APPARATUS Foa TRE/mm; PoRous BLOCKS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. l. |916; y

Patented Oct. 29, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 Hwhluuwmwuhum...

si as' ne :FEED S. HOYT, 0F DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIG'NOR TO FIQLER-STOWCOMPANY, 0F

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION 0F canrronma. l

APPARATUS4 FOR TREATING POROUSBLOCKS.

nasales?,

Application ined February 1. 191e. serial no. 75.603.

ings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification. l

My invention relates to apparatus for treating porous blocks or bricksof any design whereby a filling material such as bitumen in the form ofasphalt isforced into the pores of the material to be treated andallowed to solidify, thus rendering said material very durable andpreventing it from absorbing moisture. My object is to pro-l vide anapparatus of this character which shall be exceedingly efiicient7 in use`and coin-f paratlvely economical in construction.

-fis illustrated in thedrawing, the apparatus generally speaking,comprlses a retort adapted to receive the blocks or bricks which g arepreferably introduced by the employment of cars4 or wheeled supportsupon which the blocks are mounted;.\a furnace for heating the saidretort and its contents `a tank containing the bitumen or asphalt inliquid form and connected with the retort to permit the introduction ofthe-liquidvsubstance into the tretort and also to permit the surplusliquid substance to be removed from the retort by air pressure andreturned to the said tank by the same) path through `which it enteredthe retort from the tank; means for hea-ting the ytank for the purposeof liquefying the bitumen, asphalt or similar substance 'and maintainingit in the properly liquefied' condition; and a pump which is employedfor the double purpose of exhaust-ing the air, moisture. etc., from theretort and from the pores-of the blocks located in the retort, and alsofor the purpose of subjecting the contents-of the retort to pressure forthe purpose of saturating the porous blocks with the liquefied.substance to the' desired degree, and for the further purpose ofremoving the surplus asphalt or other liquefied substance from theretort after the bricks or blocks have been so saturated. Other featuresof con- `struction Will be set forth in the detail descri tion of thisspecification.

aving briefly outlined my improved construction as Well as the functionit is intended to subserve, I will proceed to describe the same indetail, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which isillustrated an embodiment thereof. ln this drawingi Figure 1 is avertical longitudinal section taken through the apparatus approximatelyon the line 1 1, Fig. 2, the parts, however, being shown on a smallerscale than in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section of the apparatus takenapproximately on the line 2 2, Fig. 1, looking toward the right, butshown on a larger scale.

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section taken through the retort ortreating chamber on the line1V3--3 Fig.

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section taken through the retort onthe line 4 4, Fig. 3.

The same reference characters indicate" the same parts in4 all theviews.

Let the numeral 5 designate a retort adapted to receive the material tobe treated, which, as shown in the drawing, is mounted upon cars orwheeled platforms Gand run into the retort which is provided with trackrails 7 forthe purpose. This retort iis equipped at its oppositeextremities with heads` 8 and 9 both of which may be removable or hingedto be opened ifedesired. As illustrated in the drawing, the 'head 9 ishinged as shown at 10 and secured in place when closed by means of bolts12A which are hinged to the body of the retort as shown at 13 and engageslotted lugs 14C formed on the head, fastening nuts 15 being employedfor securing the head in place. As it is necessary that the chamber ofthe retort be sealed or rendered as nearly" air tight as possible, apacking ring or gasket 16 is employed, being located lzwetweenv theouter peripheral portion of the head and an opposing shoulder 17 formedon the adjacent extremity of the retort. This head 9 is preferablyequipped with aperforated lug 18 to facilitate the opening of the headafter the bolts 12 have been released. This opening 'act may beaccomplished by the Specification of Letters Patent. Paitemtdl @cito 29,119138.,

employment of a cable 19 one extremity of which is connected with thelug 18 lwhile the other extremity is accessible to the person in chargeof the plant, the cable passing over an elevated pulley' 20, whereby thehead may be quickly and easily raised to the horizontal position, asindicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. After the head 9 is opened, trackmembers or rails 21 are placed in alinement with permanent rails 22 and."extend from the latter into the retort as best indicated by dottedlines in Fig. 4.- rlfhe cars or Wheeled platforms 64 loaded with porousbricks or blocks 23 are then run into the retort (see Fig. 4)afterfwhich the head 9 is closed and sealed. Y

This retort may be heated in any suitable manner. As shown in thedrawing, a furnace 24 is employed and a burner 25 is illustrated forsupplyingthe heat. It is evident1 that any fuel in fluid form may beemployed in connection with this burner,vthe passage of the fluidtherethrough being controlled by a valve 26. The heat and products ofcombustion enter th:` chamber 27 in which the Aretort is mounted throughlan opening 28 located at the rear extremity of the furnace 24. Thechamber 27 is provided at its opposite sides with baffles 29 whichengage the retort on opposite sides about midway of its height, thesebalies being interrupted Aat the opposite ends of the chamber 27 asshown at 30 and 31, the openings 31 being controlled by dampers 32 withwhich are connected rods 33 having one extremity ofeach extending beyondthe chamber 27 to permit the manipulation of the dampers from theoutside. As shown in Ithe drawing, fire tubes 34 extend longitudinallyof the chamber 27 on opposite sides of and below the retort in order toallow the heat to circulate freely through the chamber 27longitudinally, said chamber being provided with a number oftransversely arranged partitions 35 which extend upwardly from the baseof the chamber to the retort and terminate at the balles 29, saidpartitions forming asupport for the retort, the latter being preferablyfurther supported from below by a number of rollers or anti-frictionaldevices 36 to facilitate the necessary movement incident to theexpansion and lcontraction ofthe metal of the retort due to varyingtemperature conditions.

After the bricks or porous. blocks have been introduced into the retortandl the latter sealed as heretofore eXplained,-and after sary vacuum toexhaust the moisture, the

air and other similar content from the pores or interstices of thebricks or blocks which have been expanded by the action of the heat. Jlfdesired, heated roducts of combustion from the chamber 2 may beintroduced directly into `the retort duringI the preliminary vacuum stepfor the purpose of supplementing the action of the vacuum condition inremoving the moisture.` This may be done-by opening a valve 37 locatedwithin the chamber`27 and in communication with the retort,l the stem 38of thevalve being accessible from the outside. The valve 37 should, ofcourse, be shut off after the bricks have become dried, in order thatthe necessary vacuum condition lmay afterward be produced. Asillustrated inthe drawing, I employ a pump 39 for exhausting the retortand removing the air, moisture and other similar content from the pores-of4 the bricks or blocks, this pump being connected by means of a pipe40 with the chamber of the retort. The pipe 40 is equipped with acontrolling valve 41 and is `connected by means of a pipe 42 with apressure gage 43 of any suitable construction.

After the chamber of the retort has been subjected to the necessaryvacuum for re- .moving as far as possible the original contents of thepores of the bricks or blocks, the valve 41 is closed and the liquidasphalt, bitumen or other similar orsuitable liqueed substance f:isintroduced into the chamber of the retort in any suitable manner, a

,suiiicient quantity being employed to comfrom the chamber 27 may becaused to ypass forwardly or toward'the 'left (see Fig. 1) below sidebafiles'O whereby they are caused to circulate practically the entirelength of the chamber- 45 both below and above the bafiles; or theymaybe taken through the rear portion of the chamber 45 by opening adamper 51.

Originally or at the beginning of the operation, the bitumen, asphalt orother similar material to be liquied, is placed inthe tank 44 through anopening in the top which is surrounded by a circularlwall48 whichprojects a short distance above the tank and is normally closed by acover 49. Heat in addition Ito that received from the furnace 24 isobtained from a boiler furna'cep52. Hot products of combustion from thefurnace portion of the structure 52 are introduced binto the chamber 45through a conduit 53 and circulate around the ytank 44, finally passinginto the stack 47 Again. steam may be taken from the boiler^portion ofthe structure 52 and delivered by way of the pipe 54 into, coils or pipemembers 56 located within thetank 44, the water of condensation beingfinally returned to the boiler by way of a pipe 57. Furthermore,additional heat may be supplied tb the chamber 45 from a burner 58equipped with a valve 59. The' temperature of the tank 44 should be highretort, is continued until the enough to place the asphalt in'a thinliquid \condition. This temperature may, of course,

vary asrcircumstances or ,the -condition of the material under treatmentmay require. .When in the properly heated and desired li uid or mobilecondition the asphalt is tgilen from the tank 44 through a pipe 60 and abranch ipe 61 controlled by a valve 62 and deliveredp to the retort 5.As shown in the drawing, the pipe 61 passes into the retort and its o enextremity 62 is located near the bottom otP the retort but far enoughabove the same to permit freedom of discharge. The introduction of theliquid asphalt, bitumen or other proper material, into the orous bricksor paving blocks are complete y submerged therein, as heretofore statedlThe valve 62 is then closed and pressure applied to the chamber of theretort from the pump 39l which may be employed as an air compressor orfor pumping air into the retort, as well as a vacuum pump for exhaustingthe air, moisture, etc., from the retort and from the pores of thebricks or blocks therein, as heretofore explained. It must beunderstood, however, that the pressure within the "retort chamber may beobtained in any suitable manner, but, as ldisclosed in the drawing, thepump 39pis employed for'this purpose. The pressure within the retort bythe operation of this pump is such as to force as far as possible theliquid asphalt into Y the pores of the bricks, blocks or other materialunder treatment, its object being to forcel 'a greater amount of theliquid material into the pores of the blocks than would naturally enterthe same by the silnple submersion of the blocks within the liquidasphalt. The pressure within the retort will be indicated by the gageand after it has reached the desired. number of`pounds per square inchabove atmospheric or the maximum pressure which it has been determinedis neces;

sary, the pump is stopped andy if the pressure as `indicated by. thegage gradually diminishes, indicating that the pressure is relieved bythe entrance of the liquid asphalt into the pores of the blocks, thepump is again started and the pressure again raised to the maximum, andthis is repeated as often as the gage/indicates a reduction in pressureafter the stopping of the pump, gage indicates that the maximum pressureis maintained after stopping the pump, the operator knows that theblocks have been saturated or impregnated to the maximum degree -withthe liquid asphalt. The valve 62 is then opened and the pump 39 startedwhereby ai; is forced into the retort under the necessary pressure toremove thesurplus liquid asphalt from the retort and returned to the"tank 44 Lthrough the pipes `61` and 60 by way of which this materialoriginally entered the retort; and after the surplus liquid asphalt hasbeen completely removed. the retort may lbe opened by first looseningthe bolts 14 and lifting the head 9 to the dotted line position in F ig.1, after which the auxiliary track rails 21 are put inplace and the carsor wheeled plat-forms removed from the retort whereby the bricks orporous blocks are allowed to cool inthe atmosphere, whereby the asphaltcontents of their pores become solidified, resulting in the productionof an exceedingly durable article for paving and other uses. v

As soon as the treated porous blocks have beenremoved from the retort,the latter may be again charged in a similar manner, the head 9 sealedand the operation heretofore described repeated.

In order that the/temperature of the re-A tort may be known at alltimes, the latter is -equipped with forwardly and rearwardly' locatedthermometers 63 and 64; and in order that the depth of the liquid intheretort maybe indicated, I place a float 65 therein and connect thesame with a graduated tube 66 extending above. the retortand exposed atall 'times -for inspection. The tank 44 is also equipped withthermometers .67 and 68.

If desired, instead of introducing asphalt, bitumenor other similarmaterial in 'solid vtorni into the tank 44, it may Ibe introduced invliquid form, by utilizing an auxiliary pipe 69 equipped with a valve70.. This p1pe 69 communicates with the pipe 60. ln this event .thevalve 62 would, of course, be closed. The retort, as illustrated inthedrawing, 1s slightly tilted from its right-hand' extremity downwardly,and if desired it may be drained by the employment of a pipe 71 havlng anormally closed 'valve 72.

From the foregoing description it is believed the operation of themechanism will be readily understood. yAfter heating the retort and itsporous block contents through um condition remains. The introduction ofthe liquid asphalt to the retort is continued until the porous'blocksare completely submerged. The valve 62 is then closed and the retortplaced under the necessary pressure through the medium of the pump topro'- duce the maximum saturation or impregnation of the porous blockswith the liquefied substance.v yIt should be understobd that theaforesaid high temperature of the retort is maintained during the entireprocess of producing the vacuum condition, the lntroduction ofthe liquidasphalt and the subjecopened and the porous material immediately removedfrom the retort and allowed to cool, whereby the liquid contents of thepores of the blocks become'solidied while the latter are exposed toatmospherlc pressure alone.

It hasbeen found desirable in practice, af-Y ter the removal of thesurplus asphalt from the retort through the pipes 61 and 60, as

heretofore descibed, and returning the liquid material to the tank 44,to close the valve 62 and apply the maximum pressure through the mediumof the pump 39 to the chamber of the retort,whereby the asphalt coatingof the bricks or blocks or a large part thereof may be forced into thepores ot the said blocks whereby the latter are saturated to a somewhathigher degree, while at ythe same time the surplus coating upon theblocks is virtually absorbed. This step of the process may be practisedor-not as maybe desired. v

Attention is called to the fact that the liquid asphalt, bitumen or.other suitable liqueed substance employed in treating the porous bricksor blocks, may be drained from the retort through a pipe 71 byopening avalve 72. This draining operation may be accomplished by gravity aloneor \gravity may be supplemented or aided by pressure from the pump. l

It should be explained that the gage 43 has two members which aredesignated A and B respectively, one being utilized to indicate the airpressure within the retort and theL other to indicate the vacuumcondition in the retort.) When either of these gage mem- A.' bers isemployed, the other is rendered inoperative or put out of commission bythe closing of a yalve, the two valves being innumerals C and Drespecnating material therein may be forced back through the conduitinto the tank.

2. Apparatus for impregnating, comprising a heating chamber, a retort inthe chamber, a tank for impregnating material -located within theheating chamber and above the'retort, a conduit extending between thetank and retort and provided with a valve accessible from the exteriorof the heating lchamber, and means for creating a pressure in the retortwhereby the impregnating the conduit .into the tank.

3..,Apparat'us for impregnating, comprising a heating chamber, a retorttherein, a tank for the impregnating material located inthe chamber andabove the' retort, a conduit extending between the tank and retort atone end of the chamber and provided with material therein may`7 beforced back through a valve accessible from the exterior of the chamber,and means outside the chamber and communicating with the opposite end ofthe retort for creating pressure therein.

4. In apparatus for treating porous blocks., the combination of a.retort in which the blocks may be submerged, a tank for supplyingsubmerging'liquid locatedv at a higher level than the retort, avalve-controlled conduit for placing the tank in communication with theretort and having its retort end .open and located close to the bottomof the retort, and means in communication `with the retort for.placingthe chamber of the latter under pressure whereby the liquid in theretort may be returned to the supply tank through said conduit.

5. In apparatus for treating porous blocks, the combination of a retortadapted to receive the blocks, a tank for supplying liquid to the retortin sufficient quantity to submerge the blocks, said tank being disposedat a higher level than the retort, a valvecontrolled conduit for placingthe tank in communication with the retort, the retort end lof theconduit entering the retort from Aabove and being open and terminatingbut a short distance from the bottom of the retort, and means incommunication with the retort for placing the chamber of the latterunder pressure. greater than atmospheric.

6. In apparatus for treating porous blocks, the combination of a retortadapted to rcceive'the blocks andl adapted to hold liquid, a tank forsupplying liquid to the retort in quire.

incassa for placing the tank n communication with the retort, the retortend of said conduit entering the retort from above and belng open,extending into the retort and terminating near the bottom thereof, andmeans in com--V munication with the retort both for exhausting thechamber of the retort and placingit under pressure greater thanatmospheric.

7. In apparatus for treating porous blocks, the combination of a retort,a tank for supplying liquid to the retort and located at,a higher levelthan the retort, means for heating the tank and its contents to maintainthe latter in a liquefied condition, means for heating the retort andits contents, a valvecontrolled conduit for placing the tank incommunication with the retort, the retort extremity of said conduitbeing open, and extending into the retort from above and terminatingnear the bottom thereof, and a single instrumentality connected with theretort and serving both to produce a vacuum condition therein and alsoto place the same under pressure, as circumstances may re- 8. Inapparatus for treating porous blocks, the combination of a retortadapted to receive said blocks, means for heatlng the retort exteriorly,neans for introducing hot air `means for heating the same,

or gas into the interior of the retort, means for exhausting the retortand for placing the same under pressure greater than atmospheric, a tankfor supplying liquid to the retort located at a higher level than theretort, and a conduit connecting the tank with the retort, the retortextremity of said conduit being open, extending into the retort andterminating near the bottom thereof.

9.; In an impregnating apparatus, the combination with a heatingchamber, of a retort disposed in said chamber at an angle to thehorizontal, whereby one of its ends is positioned in a lower plane thanthe other, a tank for the impregnat'ing agent also located in saidchamber and arranged above said retort, a valve-controlled conduityextending' downwardly from said tank into said retort and entering thelower end of the latter, the retort end of said conduit terminating at apoint near the bottom of the retort, and means connected to said retortfor creating pressure therein, whereby the impregnating material may beforced back to said tank through said conduit. l

' In testimony whereof I afix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

FRED S. HOY'I. Witnesses:

GRACE HUs'roN, A Elmar OBmn;

